Topic '[Rant] Water Company' in forum 'Rants, Raves, and Praise' - dslreports.com

Re: [Rant] Water Company

Thu, 27 Dec 2012 17:26:11 EDT

Alakar posted : Just went through getting my water meter replaced. Received a letter in the mail asking me to call and schedule an appointment at my convenience. Called and scheduled it for after I finished a big tax project I was working on. Guy showed up on time, and was done in 15 minutes. They replaced a remote read meter with one that would last 10 years longer then the current one.

Can't complain about my water company at all. Water quality is excellent and my bill is about $150 quarterly; includes water, sewer, trash and snow removal.
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"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom; it is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves." William Pitt the Younger

Re: [Rant] Water Company

Sat, 22 Dec 2012 10:55:09 EDT

BigBlarg posted :

said by Aranarth:

LOL is your water really that dirty, do you live near a super fund site, or are worried that it is really dirty?

Depending on where you live the water quality isn't the same. Where I grew up, when you filled a bath the water seemed yellow-ish. I suppose there was a lot of iron in it. Where I live now it's clear but it stinks. I guess there's a lot of sulfure in it.

I am also filtering my water, but only the one I drink.

Re: [Rant] Water Company

Sat, 22 Dec 2012 00:14:04 EDT

older dog posted : Try this site to check for fluoridation.
»apps.nccd.cdc.gov/MWF/CountyData···State=NY

Re: [Rant] Water Company

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 17:26:44 EDT

rockotman posted : I am. :)

At least I don't have to worry about any biologicals.

Re: [Rant] Water Company

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 16:17:54 EDT

Oedipus posted :

said by rockotman:

What's to LOL about? Lots of iron and sulfur, plus other assorted minerals. The green-sand filter takes care of the iron and most of the sulfur, and the softener takes care of the rest of the minerals. The reverse osmosis filter is just for drinking water - it gets rid of that last hint of sulfur. I have it mounted under the sink with a separate spigot for the filtered water. Without it, the water is OK, but with it, the water is immaculate.

He's loling at the fact that it sounds like you're running a complete water treatment plant at your home.

Re: [Rant] Water Company

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 15:24:48 EDT

rockotman posted : What's to LOL about? Lots of iron and sulfur, plus other assorted minerals. The green-sand filter takes care of the iron and most of the sulfur, and the softener takes care of the rest of the minerals. The reverse osmosis filter is just for drinking water - it gets rid of that last hint of sulfur. I have it mounted under the sink with a separate spigot for the filtered water. Without it, the water is OK, but with it, the water is immaculate.
--
Shine on you crazy diamond...

Re: [Rant] Water Company

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 14:57:48 EDT

Aranarth posted : LOL is your water really that dirty, do you live near a super fund site, or are worried that it is really dirty?

Re: [Rant] Water Company

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 11:24:36 EDT

rockotman posted : I have a well now, as well. It provides plenty of water for me, the wife, and the horses. But instead of now making quarterly payments to a utility, I have to buy softener salt (typically 1 or 2 40# bags at $5 each per month), PotPerm for the green sand filter (typically one bottle per year @ $50/bottle), and various in-line filters (1 sediment filter per month @ $5 each, two reverse osmosis unit carbon filters @ $20 each every six months, and 1 reverse osmosis membrane filter @ $40 each every other year). Add to that the time involved in doing all the maintenance, plus the yearly maintenance to make sure that the orifices in the back-wash units on the softener and green-sand filter do not get clogged, and I figure between my material cost and my time, I pay on average about the same as what I paid when I had municipal water. The real savings is in not having the sewage charge thanks to the septic system.
--
Shine on you crazy diamond...

Re: [Rant] Water Company

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 10:37:13 EDT

Aranarth posted :

said by 07108968:

What quantity of water were you using for $40/mo, did that include a sewer charge?

I pay ~$120 quarterly combined water and sewer.(works out to half-half)
There is a lot involved with running a municipal water system.

I know people that have good wells and others the water isn't worth using for the toilet.

I wouldn't mind septic instead of a sewer system but I like having a basically unlimited amount of fresh clean drinking water, that is under constant pressure, you never have to wait for the pump to "catch up" or losing the "prime".

Its a 4" bore well and the pump is an in-line autopriming and I have a cycle-stop on it as well.
Its a family of 4 mom, dad, 2 kids (not teenagers).

Yes we have a septic system since we have farm land all around.

Pressure is set to approx ~60 psi and the pump comes on once this drops below ~40psi. While water is in use it well runs constantly because of the cycle-stop.

Line from the well to the pressure tank is 1".

This also feeds our open loop geothermal (~7gal/min) and tankless hot water heater.)

Geothermal discharge is underground through a tube and sock and everything else is through the septic system and drainage field as usual.

If the system was not heating and cooling the house it would be closer to $10-20/mo for water.

Re: [Rant] Water Company

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 22:39:56 EDT

rockotman posted : At our old house, we had the meter inside, and it required the meter reader to come in and do a reading. For about two years straight, we missed the quarterly reading and the water company would give us an estimated bill. For eight quarters straight, the estimate was about the average of what we used quarterly over the many years that we had lived there.

Eventually, I got the notice stating that they wanted to replace my meter with one that they could read from outside, and sent someone out to replace the meter and get a final reading on the old meter.

What a pleasant surprise when they did the final reading... unrealized by me, in the two years that they were doing quarterly estimates, our water usage had decreased significantly due to two sons moving out. I didn't have a water bill for the next three quarters, and a very light bill the fourth quarter.

Yeah, I know that I had let them have my extra money interest free for over a year, but it still felt good not getting that bill for a couple of hundred simoleons every three months. :)
--
Shine on you crazy diamond...

Re: [Rant] Water Company

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 14:35:30 EDT

Drex posted : Our parish decided it would be a good idea to upgrade everyone to the remote water meters...Scratch that...Our parish was SOLD the idea...
They were told it would save the parish in the long run. Well i noticed some of my neighbors getting new meters, but I never saw them dig up mine or replace it. I don't know what they look like (guess I could check a neighbor's), but it still has the mechanical dial and all.
Anyway, turns out it's MORE EXPENSIVE to run these things. To offset the cost, the parish had to raise everyone's rates by $2/month. Someone's cousin or brother-in-law made off like a bandit on that gig.

Did I mention that up until about a year ago our parish water system was consistently in violation of EPA rules? They kept getting fined. The water was so bad they had to put too many chemicals in it to make it drinkable. They finally fixed it, but it still tastes like crap. I think there are some third world countries out there that have better water than us.
--
I'm actually not funny, I'm just really mean and people think I'm joking.

Re: [Rant] Water Company

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 11:25:30 EDT

cowboyro posted : I've received a mail notice from the water company asking me to schedule a replacement of the meter with a remote one.
The only reason was the fact that they couldn't read the meter, I have a dog and the reader guy is a pussy.

Re: [Rant] Water Company

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 10:43:59 EDT

J E F F posted : Sounds like when they changed out electrical meter, only we never got any notice. Just chillaxing when I here this electrical pop and everything goes dark, then another electrical pop and power is back on. I see two guys running like they are in a marathon to the house next door...they had installed the "smart" meter.
--
If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough. - Albert Einstein

Re: [Rant] Water Company

Wed, 12 Dec 2012 10:41:00 EDT

cissado posted : Wow. I am the type of person to just have them disconnect the water. Then when you complain to the state or (local news lol they would love this story...) , it has more of an effect. Nah, it would suck to be without water. I almost was there when I bought my house and the water bill from the previous owner had not been paid for 6-12 months. "Pay or be shut off!"... so I paid it. Not the water company's fault.

I did get a letter from my water company yesterday saying "We have found high levels of lead in the drinking water" Ummm, didn't you guys just upgrade the water cleaning system for a Kazillion dollars the last few years? That's why you told us the rates were increasing, to pay for this upgrade.

"Things you can do to reduce lead in your drinking water.... Get it filtered... use an alternate water supply/portable etc......" WTF??? Then they send you the bill in the same envelope. lmao.

Re: [Rant] Water Company

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 20:45:17 EDT

07108968 posted :

said by Aranarth

On the other hand I remember my dad almost constantly complaining about the price of city water when we lived in town. I think he said doubled almost every other year. So started at $5 and when we left 5 years later it was almost $40/mo.

Surely pumping water can't cost that much can it?!

Re: [Rant] Water Company

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 19:58:48 EDT

Aranarth posted : I have a 60ft well, I live in the country, I probably pay $10/mo to pump water for personal use (showers, washing, drinking, etc.) and my water tastes nice and it's not all that hard.

nanner nanner suckers! (J/K) :D

On the other hand I remember my dad almost constantly complaining about the price of city water when we lived in town. I think he said doubled almost every other year. So started at $5 and when we left 5 years later it was almost $40/mo.

Surely pumping water can't cost that much can it?!

Re: [Rant] Water Company

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 19:47:00 EDT

Anonymous_ posted :

said by Anonymark:

So 1 week age, I see a guy walk up and hang a tag on my front door. I figured it was some pizza guy or something. Nope, it's a notice from the local water company. They say they are disconnecting my water on 12-7-12 unless I call them to get a new water meter. WTF! I call them, and they say I need a new water meter because I have an older one that needs to be read by a person. I asked, politely if maybe they could have called me, or sent a letter, instead of hanging a big red "disconnect" tag on my door.... "That's not our policy" "We just hang the tags" :mad:. I scheduled the meter install for yesterday, and they never showed..... I called today and was told "Oh our printer is still broken, we couldn't print yesterday's work orders. So now I am sitting her waiting for a technician to come over, who is an hour late, to do the new meter. The water company did however, "move back" my disconnect to Monday.... So if this guy doesn't show up, I guess I have no water come Monday.

So I pay my quarterly bill on time for the last 12 years, and they are going to turn my water off because they can't even ^*%$ knock on my door or show up! WTF

Time to fire off a complaint to the State utility commission

if you think 30$ is bad

our local water co tried putting a 50$ to $200 "connection fee per month"(depending on your pipe size) +water usage

Backlash worked very well and the community got a court ordered injunction.

Re: [Rant] Water Company

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 19:27:33 EDT

07108968 posted : Not saying it is true in your case, but many times those "We are going to disconnect you IF" threats are just that, threats, to get your attention and they really have no intention of doing so.

Years ago I was having problems with the Gas company and they threatened to shut the gas off at the street .. their shut off day came and went and they ended up installing a remote read meter.

Re: [Rant] Water Company

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 17:15:43 EDT

medbuyer posted :

said by La Luna:

Why are they disconnecting the water? That makes NO sense. Why not just show up and change the meter and be done with it? Don't understand why they would penalize the consumer for something THEY want/need to do.

they're notifying the OP so that the OP can schedule or be reminded not to use the water faucet or anything when they try to install a new meter even though it will only take 20min.

you surely don't want them coming in while you're taking a shower or taking a dump right?

I don't see where the OP is being penalized unless installing a new meter is what you understand as being penalized...

Re: [Rant] Water Company

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 11:44:18 EDT

workablob posted : They did mine within the last year. Very nice and polite.

Or so my wife says :o

Dave
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I may have been born yesterday. But it wasn't at night.

Re: [Rant] Water Company

Sat, 08 Dec 2012 13:25:46 EDT

Anonymark posted :

said by La Luna:

Exactly! Update, the technician showed up at 8:30 PM. He was nice, quick and highly apologetic for being so late. Took him all of 20 minutes.

I filed a complaint with the state board anyhow because of the "we are going to disconnect your water because we can't be bothered to call you or show up on time issue". I made sure to say the actual people I dealt with were nice, but unable to change a ridiculous corporate policy...

Re: [Rant] Water Company

Sat, 08 Dec 2012 11:26:47 EDT

La Luna posted : Why are they disconnecting the water? That makes NO sense. Why not just show up and change the meter and be done with it? Don't understand why they would penalize the consumer for something THEY want/need to do.

Re: [Rant] Water Company

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 23:47:01 EDT

Oedipus posted : They can't send somebody out to read the meter, but they can sure as hell send someone out to disconnect service.

Re: [Rant] Water Company

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 21:24:30 EDT

ilikeme posted : In Houston they just upgraded our meters without asking or charging about 10-15 years ago. They just left a hang tag advising when it would be done. We have never had any problems like this with Houston, Sugar Land, Or Denton.

Re: [Rant] Water Company

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 18:43:13 EDT

jadinolf posted : Sorry to hear that.

Sounds like our Rinky Dink Water Company.

Not long ago the minimum (which I paid) was $7.00.

Now it's $30.00 plus.

Oh yes, the water is not drinkable because it is so hard, so: Softener is $30 per month and drinking water is from .35 to $2.00 per gallon according to how rich your tastes are.

Nice, huh?
--
Printed on 100% recycled bytes

[Rant] Water Company

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 16:46:49 EDT

Anonymark posted : So 1 week age, I see a guy walk up and hang a tag on my front door. I figured it was some pizza guy or something. Nope, it's a notice from the local water company. They say they are disconnecting my water on 12-7-12 unless I call them to get a new water meter. WTF! I call them, and they say I need a new water meter because I have an older one that needs to be read by a person. I asked, politely if maybe they could have called me, or sent a letter, instead of hanging a big red "disconnect" tag on my door.... "That's not our policy" "We just hang the tags" :mad:. I scheduled the meter install for yesterday, and they never showed..... I called today and was told "Oh our printer is still broken, we couldn't print yesterday's work orders. So now I am sitting her waiting for a technician to come over, who is an hour late, to do the new meter. The water company did however, "move back" my disconnect to Monday.... So if this guy doesn't show up, I guess I have no water come Monday.

So I pay my quarterly bill on time for the last 12 years, and they are going to turn my water off because they can't even ^*%$ knock on my door or show up! WTF

Time to fire off a complaint to the State utility commission